Trigger upgrades in a SD carry gun

[MRH]

I had the privilege of having a conversation with Massad Ayoob a couple weeks ago, and though we did not speak for very long, I took full advantage by asking some hard line questions, and found that he was more than willing to enlighten me. He also sent me a link to a brief write up he did on the S&W forums some time ago and his own observations from being an expert witness in SD shootings for over 3 decades.

The short version is if you do any trigger upgrades that are not factory jobs, you are placing your defense in a very risky situation. Winning the fight is of utmost importance in a SD shooting, but it is only the beginning of the fight if an ambitious, and sometimes politically motivated DA decides you are in the wrong...Winning the court battle afterwards must be considered. Trigger upgrades are going to be used against you, and the crime lab expert(s) will most certainly discover if anything has been tampered with.

This should be required reading for anyone who carries and has considered upgrading their triggers. It really deserves its own thread.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/concea...facts-about-light-trigger-pull-liability.html

I will add that Mas and many other courtroom experts highly recommend carry insurance. That topic also deserves its own thread, if we don't have one already.

 

[Shortcut]

Very good read and interesting. Thx. still going to carry my SD pistols as I have them set up. Carry Ins is a good thing I think in the world we live in today, were common sense is not so common

 

[Shrek926]

FWIW... it’s never been presented successfully in court in a self defense case where the accused is convicted. Agree on having a liability coverage (Carry Guard etc. )

George Zimmerman’s KelTec was torn down during his trial, but many believe his court case was a token. Mods may have effected outcome. Reality is, make your gun your own, SYG laws and 16-3-21 will cover your ass.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Burdy]

You lost me at Massad Ayoob.

 

[BIGLEW]

You lost me at Massad Ayoob.

Gesundheit

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Mas is notoriously timid about his advice. If you follow his lines of thinking to their logical conclusions, you would carry only the same gun and ammo that the biggest and most well-respected law enforcement agencies in your city and state carry. You'd get the same training as they get, including use of force drills, shoot-no-shoot scenarios, and marksmanship from 2 yards to 50 meters. Anything other than this is just giving gun-hating prosecutors and crooked attorneys for gunshot crooks the "ammunition" they need to show you're a bloodthirsty maniac or irresponsible, reckless person.

From everything he said in the article, I think the only REAL danger worth considering is that your gun's "hair trigger" may actually cause you to shoot it when you didn't mean to. You might touch that trigger in a way that you think is a light touch, just to reassure you that you're ready. But in your nervousness and with that adreneline dump in your system, you might actually put the number of pounds of pressure on it that it needs to fire. Unintentionally.

And as Mas said, there is no "self defense" accident defense. An intentional shoot can sometimes be legal and justified, but a negligent discharge is NEVER justified. And some detectives will try to trick you into saying, or agreeing with the cop's statement, that you only meant to point the gun at the bad guy, not shoot him, not at that moment.

But as to the idea that detectives and prosecutors will try to say you shot the guy by accident when you only intended to cover him and not fire your weapon, if you say you DID intentionally shoot the suspect and you give a plausible, legally valid reason that you saw him as a threat that merited a deadly force response, that's going to carry the day. No way will the prosecution try to argue to a jury that you're lying when you say you shot him with intent and purpose, when really it was just an accident.
Not one in a million prosecutors are retarded enough to take that B.S. to a jury. Not when the circumstances of the shoot ARE such that an intentional shoot would be justified, and not an over-reaction.

 

[gun guy17]

Gesundheit

Lol! That was a good laugh. Thanks

 

[Bear44]

You lost me at Massad Ayoob.

Not a fan?

 

[MRH]

You lost me at Massad Ayoob.

Why? He has been an expert witness in SD shootings for 30+ years, and has assisted in the acquittal of innocent people. Several times his testimony alone was the key to those acquittals.

No matter what you disagree with about his philosophies on guns, his expertise as a courtroom witness cannot be denied.

 

[BIGLEW]

Lol! That was a good laugh. Thanks

The funniest part is I had to google that word for spelling.